Reclaimed Drystone Walling

Reclaimed drystone walling stone is a graded mixture of flat-bedded yorkstone pieces, random in shape and size, cleaned and palletised ready for use. It requires no mortar or cement — the same construction technique that has defined Yorkshire Dales field walls for centuries — creating borders, retaining walls, and garden perimeters that look as though they have been there for generations.

It depends on how the wall is built. For a single cladding skin of stone about 100–120 mm deep on a block retaining wall, a standard tonne bag (approximately 800 kg) covers around 2.5–3 m² of face: measure length by height. For a freestanding double-skin wall built entirely from the stone, with two faces and a packed hearting core, allow roughly two-thirds to one bag per metre run at 600 mm high for a wall 450–525 mm wide at the base, and around 1.1–1.3 bags per metre for a full 600 mm-wide wall with a buried footing course. The Dry Stone Walling Association's rule of thumb for a full-height field wall is about a tonne of stone per square metre of face. Reclaimed stone is best ordered with 10–15% extra for waste. Send us the wall's length, height and base width and we will confirm the quantity.

Reclaimed drystone walling is sold by the tonne; the live price per tonne is shown on the product page. Because the stone is genuinely reclaimed yorkstone with natural patina, costs reflect sourcing and grading. Free samples are available to assess the finish before ordering.

Yes — flat-bedded reclaimed yorkstone is ideal for low garden retaining walls and decorative borders. For walls retaining significant soil loads or exceeding around 600 mm in height, a structural engineer's advice is recommended regardless of material. Drystone walls naturally drain well, reducing hydrostatic pressure behind the wall.

Traditional drystone walling uses no mortar at all — stones are simply coursed and packed tightly, with smaller hearting pieces filling the core. This technique is entirely authentic to the Yorkshire Dales style, and the finished wall drains freely and moves slightly with ground frost without cracking.